Metal stock cutting and bending tool



April 30, 1963 K. A. BOHN 3,087,242

METAL STOCK CUTTING AND BENDING TOOL Filed June 30, 1960 v E? Q 40 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Karl A. 50/) l N V EN TOR.

BY gamaaifizm April 30, 1963 K. A. BOHN 3,087,242

METAL STOCK CUTTING AND BENDING TOOL Filed June 30, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Balm INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,087,242 METAL STOCK CUTTING AND BENDIlflG TOOL Karl A. Bohu, 109-16 222ml St, Queens Village, N.Y. Filed June 30, 1960, Ser- No. 39,929 4 Claims. (Cl. 29-564) This invention comprises a novel and useful multipurpose tool and more particularly relates to a hand tool capable of use for punching, shearing, bending or twisting flat stock metal and is a continuation-in-part of prior copending application Serial No. 738,506, filed May 28, 1958, for Cutting Tool, now abandoned.

An object of the present invention is to provide a hand tool capable of selectively performing punching, shearing, bending or twisting operations upon flat stock metal.

A further object of the invention is to provide a hand tool of a relatively simple construction and which shall brace or stabilize the metal being sheared by the tool, said stabilizer also featuring a limit gauge for the thickness of the metal beyond which the shear blades are not designed for.

A further important object of the invention is to provide a mechanism whereby a conventional hand operated sheet metal punch may be readily converted to a tool also capable of shearing and bending fiat stock metal and of twisting metal.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like par-ts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of one suitable construction of a tool in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged detail view of the jaws of the tool of FIGURE 1, but taken from the other side of the same and showing the stabilizer blade;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the jaw portion of the tool showing the manner in which the same is utilized for the purpose of twisting metal;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 4-4 of FIGURE 3 and showing certain details of the operating mechanism of the tool;

FIGURE 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 55 of FIGURE 4 and showing some of the details of the operating linkage of the tool;

FIGURE 6 is a group perspective view of the upper and lower jaws of the tool for forming shearing operations;

FIGURE 7 is a partial perspective view showing the right-angle bending die;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional View taken through the bending dies; and

FIGURE 9 is a side elevational view illustrating a modification of the tool shown in FIGURE 1.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown a hand punching tool for fiat stock metal and which is modified and thereby converted in accordance with this invention by the application of certain elements thereto to enable this conventional tool to perform the additional operations of shearing and bending of the metal by the same operation formerly utilized to perform the punching operation of the device, and to also enable the device to support strap metal to assist in twisting the same.

The hand operated punching device consists of upper and lower handles 10 and 12, respectively, the lower handle having the usual spaced upper and lower punching jaws 1-4 and 16 which thus constitute the bifurcated extremity of the lower handle 12. The lower punching jaw 16 provides an anvil which cooperates with a punch 18 slidably journaled in a bore in the upper jaw. In the hand operated punch so far described, the upper handle 10 is connected by a movable pivot 20 to a pair of links 22 which in turn are pivoted to the lower handle 12 as upon the upper punching jaw 14 thereof by means of pivot bolt 54. At its extremity the upper movable handle 10 is provided with a geared or toothed cam fulcrum surface 24 which engages and cooperates with a cooperating cammed tooth surface 26 carried by the upper part or surface of the rocking punch actuating lever 28. In the conventional tool, this lever is pivoted at one extremity to the lower handle 12 so that upon rocking movement of the upper handle, the engagement of the two surfaces 24 and 26 will cause the lever 28 to move downwardly and thereby cause the fingered extremity 30* thereof to depress the punch 18 to perform the punching operation upon material placed between the two punch jaws. As is apparent to those skilled in the art, the punching force will be at a mechanical advantage to the actuating force applied to the end of the movablehandle 10.

It is this tool to which the additional elements of the present invention are applied as an attachment to convert the tool from a punching device to a combined punch, shears, bending die and a metal strap twisting device as set forth hereinafter In order to facilitate use of this tool as a metar shears and a metal stock twisting device, there is secured thereto a mounting stand designated generally by the numeral 32. This stand is secured to and embraces the lower base handle 12 to form therewith a base assembly that serves as a support to hold the tool in a fixed position convenient for use of the punch, shears or the strap twisting elements of the tool as shown in the drawings.

The stand 32 consists of a flat base plate 34 which extends transversely of the tool and below the handle 12 thereof. Secured to this base plate are a pair of vertically extending side plates 36, having outturned or flanged lower ends 38 which overlie, rest upon and are secured to the base plate 34 in any suitable manner, the side plates clamping the opposite sides of the lower handle 12 therebetween as will be apparent from FIGURE 5. Fastening means are provided which comprise connecting means engaging the side plates 36 for effecting this clamping engagement of the latter upon the lower handle. These fastening or connecting means consist of upper and lower bolts 40 and 42 respectively. The upper bolt 40 also serves as a pivot by which the punch actuating lever or rocker 28 is mounted as will be apparent from FIGURE 4. It also functions as a means to support and connect to the lower handle as attachments to the hand punch, a stabilizer bar 44 and a stationary upper cutting jaw 46.

Referring now especially to FIGURE 6 it will be seen that there are provided a pair of plate-like elements comprising the above mcntioned stationary upper cutting jaw 46 and a relatively movable lower cutting jaw 48.

It will be seen that the stationary upper cutting jaw 46 is apertured as at 50 at its rearward end for engagement upon the previously mentioned bolt 40, and is further apertured as at 52 at its forward end whereby it may be secured as by a bolt 54 to the lower handle 12 at the upper punch jaw thereof, this bolt also serving to connect the links 22 thereto.

At its forward or outer end, the fixed upper jaw 46 has a forwardly projecting portion 56 with a lower knife edge 58 thereon. A slot 60* extends through this jaw adjacent the pivot opening 50 thereof for a purpose to be subsequently set forth.

The movable lower jaw 48 comprises a plate-like member having a plurality of apertures 62, 64 and 66 therein by which the jaw is mounted, and at its lower end has a laterally projecting portion 68 which underlies and has a shearing surface 70 complementary to and cooperating with the shearing surface 58 of the stationary upper jaw. The aperture 62 is received upon the movable pivot 20 previously mentioned, the aperture 66 is received upon the fastener 4, while a fastener 72, see FIGURE 4, which comprises the stop pin to limit the downward travel of the punch actuating rocker or lever 28 of the hand operated punch As now described it will thus be apparent that upon initial downward movement of the handle towards the handle 12, the above described connection of the elements will cause the lower movable jaw 48 to move upwardly into shearing relation with the upper stationary jaw 46. Thereafter, further movement of the handle 10 will result in actuation of the punch 18 through downward travel of the punch actuating lever 28.

By further reference to FIGURE 3 it will be seen that the stabilizer bar 44 has one extremity thereof secured by the bolt 40 to the support base or stand 32 and has its other end secured by the above described fastener 54. The stabilizer bar has a forwardly extending projection 74 (FIG- URE 2) which is substantially coextensive with and complementary to the forward projection 56 of the stationary upper cutting jaw, this projection likewise having an undercut flat surface 76 thereon complementary to the shearing surface 58. The surfaces 58 and 76 are disposed in horizontal alignment transversely of the device so that when a sheet of metal is placed between the shearing jaws, it will underlie and engage the undersurfaces 58 and 76, and upon movement of the movable lower jaw upwardly, to perform the shearing operation, the stabilizer bar in conjunction with the jaw 56 will hold the metal against bending during the shearing operation.

It will be appreciated that the shearing jaws 58 and 70 are designed for cutting metal up to some predetermined thickness for the shearing force capable of being exerted by the tool. Therefore in the modification illustrated in FIGURE 9, a limit gauge member 84 is provided and attached to one side of the upper jaw 46 by means of fasteners 86 and 54. The limit gauge member 84 is therefore provided with an upper forward edge 88 which is spaced a predetermined distance below the edge 58 of the upper jaw and is parallel thereto. Accordingly, metal of a thickness in excess of that for which the shearing jaws are designed to cut will be prevented by the gauge member from being inserted between the shearing jaws.

Adjacent its rearward end, the stabilizer bar 44 is provided with a slot 78 therethrough which is disposed in registration with the slot 60 previously mentioned on the stationary upper jaw. This slot is adapted to receive. therethrough a strap 80- of metal in order to firmly hold the same as a tool 82 is applied thereto to effect a twisting of the metal strap.

It will be noted that the two transversely aligned slots 60 and 78 are so positioned as to dispose the metal strap 80, see FIGURE 4, above the lower handle 12 and beneath the previously mentioned punch actuating lever 28.

Referring now to FIGURES 7 and 8 in particular, it will be observed that a female die member 90 is secured to the camming lever 28 and cooperates with a male die formation 92 on the handle 10 to make an accurate right angle bend on a metal strap as illustrated in FIGURES 7 and 8 when the handle 10 is displaced downwardly causing relative movement between the handle 10 and camming lever 28 toward each other. The die member 90 has a pair of upstanding projections 94 and 96 disposed 'rearwardly thereof and serve thepurpose of accurately positioning the metal placed on the die member exactly perpendicular thereto so as to insure a properly aligned right angle bend.

The present device is particularly useful by workers in constructing and installing heating and ventilating ducts,

since apporpriate holes may be punched in the band iron suspension hangers of the same by the punch portion of the device, the material may be sheared by the cutting jaws, and the straps which suspend the ducts may be set at the desired angular relation in order to hang or support the ducts in a building structure. From the foregoing, it is also apparent that this invention covers a portable hand tool which enables a mechanic to perform cutting, bending and twisting operations with a tool originally designed only to punch flat stock and modified pursuant to this invention. Accordingly, the mechanic may work the fiat stock by replacing heavy and bulky bench-fastened tools with the tool made in accordance with this invention also featuring a stand attachment freeing both hands of the mechanic for operating the tool by forming with one han dle of the portable tool, a base assembly mounting the fixed shear jaw, shear limit gauge, punch anvil and stock twist holding device as hereinbefore described.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A device of the character described comprising a base assembly, link means pivotally mounted on the base assembly for limited movement relative thereto, pivot means connected to said link means in spaced relation above the base assembly, elongated handle means operatively connected to said pivot means for movement toward said base assembly, lever means pivotally mounted on the base assembly and drivingly connected to said handle means in spaced relation therebelow for relative movement of said lever means and handle means toward each other in response to movement of both said handle means and lever means toward the base assembly, and limit stop means operatively connected to the link means and lever means for limiting movement of the lever means toward the base assembly in response to displacement of the link means by movement of the handle means toward the base assembly.

2. The combination of claim 1, including shearing means mounted on the link means and base assembly for shearing work stock in response to said displacement of the link means.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein said shearing means comprises fixed jaw means mounted by the base assembly, movable jaw means mounted on the link means and movable upwardly toward the. fixed jaw means in response to said displacement of the link means and stabilizer means mounted on the base assembly in spaced relation to the fixed jaw means for positioning the work stock there between.

4. The combination of claim 3, wherein said shearing means further includes limit gauge means fixedly mounted on the fixed jaw means for limiting the thickness of work stock capable of being positioned between the fixed jaw means and stabilizer means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7,186X Bennet July 25, 1832 580,986 Middaugh Apr. 20, 1897 959,035 Taylor May 24, 1910 1,871,020 Wyzenbeek Aug. 9, 1932 2,053,309 Yeager Sept. 8, 1936 2,055,034 Koehn Sept. 22, 1936 

1. A DEVICE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING A BASE ASSEMBLY, LINK MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON THE BASE ASSEMBLY FOR LIMITED MOVEMENT RELATIVE THERETO, PIVOT MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID LINK MEANS IN SPACED RELATION ABOVE THE BASE ASSEMBLY, ELONGATED HANDLE MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID PIVOT MEANS FOR MOVEMENT TOWARD SAID BASE ASSEMBLY, LEVER MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON THE BASE ASSEMBLY AND DRIVINGLY CONNECTED TO SAID HANDLE MEANS IN SPACED RELATION THEREBELOW FOR RELATIVE MOVEMENT OF SAID LEVER MEANS AND HANDLE MEANS TOWARD EACH OTHER IN RESPONSE TO MOVEMENT OF BOTH SAID HANDLE MEANS AND LEVER MEANS TOWARD THE BASE ASSEMBLY, AND LIMIT STOP MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO THE LINK MEANS AND LEVER MEANS FOR LIMITING MOVEMENT OF THE LEVER MEANS TOWARD THE BASE ASSEMBLY IN RESPONSE TO DISPLACEMENT OF THE LINK MEANS BY MOVEMENT OF THE HANDLE MEANS TOWARD THE BASE ASSEMBLY. 